Egypt's interior ministry to investigate alleged torture case in police station

Ahram Online, Tuesday 15 Jul 2014

Interior ministry to investigate after Youtube video displaying torture at Ain Shams police station surfaces

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File Photo: Riot policemen beat a protester opposing ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi during clashes along Qasr Al Nil bridge, which leads to Tahrir Square in Cairo, in this January 28, 2013 (Photo: Reuters)

Egypt's interior ministry will investigate an alleged torture case in a Cairo police station, a security source told Reuter's Aswat Masriya.

The alleged torture incident, recorded in a one-minute Youtube video, shows someone, who appears to be suffering, lying on the ground asking for help. The video also shows a bystander demanding the injured be transported to the hospital.

Viewers of the video have suspected the incident took place in Ain Shams police station.

The source told Aswat Masriya that officials at the interior ministry did not deny or confirm the incident’s occurrence while stating that the incident is being investigated.

In its 2014 annual report on usage of torture worldwide, released in May, Amnesty International said that torture remains "endemic" in Egypt.

Allegations of torture inside prisons have increased since a security crackdown on supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and other secular dissidents.

In a July television interview on ONTV Satellite channel, Head of the Interior Ministry's Public Relations and Media Department Abdel-Fattah Osman dismissed torture allegations as "fabrications".

"[The incidents] have nothing to do with reality or logic," Osman declared.

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